The 200 metres hurdles is a rarely run hurdling event in track and field competitions. Sometimes, this event is referred to as the low hurdles. It was run twice in the Summer Olympics, in 1900 and 1904.
All-time top 25 straight = performance on straight track y = 220 yard course h = hand timing A = affected by altitude
Men Correct as of May 2025.
RankTimeTypeWindAthleteNationalityDatePlace121.85straightAlison dos Santos17 May 2025Atlanta221.9 straight +1.4Don Styron2 April 1960Baton Rouge322.10straight +2.0Andy Turner15 May 2011Manchester +1.8L. J. van Zyl9 May 2015Manchester522.1 straightElias Gilbert17 May 1958Raleigh622.18straight -0.6Amere Lattin23 May 2021Boston722.2 straight +1.4David Sime5 May 1956Durham, NC +1.3Ancel Robinson15 June 1957AustinCalvin Cooley16 April 1960Abilene1022.26straight +2.0Bershawn Jackson15 May 2011Manchester1122.3 straightHarrison Dillard21 June 1947Salt Lake City22.3 Fran Washington17 May 1958RaleighDick Howard16 April 1960AbileneIrvin Roberson27 May 1961Modesto22.30straightCaleb Dean17 May 2025Atlanta1622.4 straightRalph Boston28 May 1960Fort Campbell1722.48straightJohnny Dutch26 May 2017Manchester1822.5 straightFred Wolcott8 June 1940PrincetonWilliam Porter21 June 1947Salt Lake CityCraig Dixon9 April 1949Los AngelesRod Perry14 June 1957AustinHayes Jones30 May 1959AustinRex Stucker21 May 1960AmesRex Cawley15 April 1961TempeJohn Bethea3 June 1962Baltimore22.5 bend +1.2Martin Lauer7 July 1959Zürich
Notes Below is a list of other times equal or superior to 22.50: Don Styron also ran 22.1 (1960, 1961), 22.2 (1960, 1961), 22.3 (1960, 1961). Alison dos Santos also ran 22.12 Andy Turner also ran 22.30 (2010). Ancel Robinson also ran 22.3 (1957).
Women Correct as of September 2021.
RankTimeTypeWindAthleteNationalityDatePlace124.8 bend +0.4Yadisleidy Pedroso6 April 2013Caserta224.86straight +0.1Shiann Salmon23 May 2021Boston324.91straight +0.1Shamier Little23 May 2021Boston425.05straight +1.0Meghan Beesley17 May 2014Manchester525.31straight +0.5Katarina Johnson-Thompson9 May 2015Manchester625.6 bend –0.7Patricia Girard23 August 2001Nantes725.7 bend –1.5Pam Kilborn-Ryan25 November 1971Melbourne825.71straight +0.1Rhonda Whyte23 May 2021Boston925.74straight –1.1Perri Shakes-Drayton25 May 2013Manchester1025.79bend +0.5Noemi Zbären17 May 2014Basel –0.6Lauren Wells21 January 2017Canberra1225.8 bend +0.6Annelie Jahns-Erdhardt5 July 1970Erfurt –0.9Teresa Sukniewicz9 August 1970Warsaw25.80straight +0.6Ebony Morrison20 May 2018Boston1525.81bend –1.5Zuzana Hejnová13 September 2017Kutné Hoře1625.84straight +1.0Eilidh Child17 May 2014Manchester1725.86straight +1.0Denisa Rosolová17 May 2014Manchester1825.9 bendValeria Bufanu21 October 1970Bucharest25.90straight +1.0Dalilah Muhammad17 May 2014Manchester2026.0 bendDanuta Sraszynska9 August 1970Warsaw2126.1 bendPat Hawkins10 July 1971Bakersfield2226.11bend–0.9Line Kloster11 June 2020Oslo2326.12straight –0.2Gianna Woodruff4 June 2017Bostonstraight +0.3Cassandra Tate16 June 2019Boston2526.16straight +0.3Zeney van der Walt16 June 2019Boston
Notes
Below is a list of other times equal or superior to 26.16: Meghan Beesley also ran 25.28 (2015). Pam Kilborn-Ryan also ran hand-timed 25.8 (1969), 25.9 (1971), 26.0 (1969) and 26.1 (1969). Patricia Girard also ran 25.82 (1999), hand-timed 26.1 (1998) and 26.11 (1998). Ebony Morrison also ran 25.83 straight (2021). Shamier Little also ran 25.88 straight (2019), 25.90 straight (2018) and 26.00 straight (2017). Yadisleidy Pedroso also ran hand-timed 25.7 (2012) and 26.06 (2015). Rhonda Whyte also ran 26.05 straight (2019). Valeria Bufanu also ran a hand-timed 26.1 (1970). Teresa Sukniewicz also ran a hand-timed 26.1 (1970). Cassandra Tate also ran 26.15 straight (2018).
Masters athletics The event is the official distance for the M80+ and W70+ divisions of Masters athletics. The height for all hurdles in these age groups is , and the arrangement of the hurdles is different from the previous version of the race. The distance to the first hurdle is 20 metres, which corresponds with the markings for the last half of a 400 metres hurdle race, standard on most tracks. Because, like the flat 200 metres, the race only covers half of a standard track, a wind reading is required.
27-inch hurdles The idea of using hurdles was introduced in Europe in 2000. Standard hurdles do not accommodate this height, which caused resistance from some NGBs, but the rules were adopted worldwide. Many hurdles will not go to that height at all, or would only do so if they were cut down. Most facilities that have spent thousands of dollars to buy regulation hurdles would not allow them to be damaged by cutting. Since it is a requirement, major championship meets have purchased a few sets of modified hurdles, and ship these few hurdles between meets. As a substitute, many older hurdle designs are easier to modify, and most facilities are less protective of old equipment. Also many training hurdles (used to teach smaller, youth beginners) will go to 27 inches and lower.
Records After setting the world record for the 300 metres hurdles during its last year on the official program at age 80, Canadian Earl Fee set the still standing world record of 36.95 (+0.0) a year later at the NCCWMA Regional Championships in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico on September 5, 2010. Almost four years later, Fee also set the M85 record of 42.70 (+0.4) in the same meet, this time being held in San Jose, Costa Rica on August 23, 2014. The M90 record of 51.31 was set a month earlier by American Ralph Maxwell with the benefit of high altitude in Fort Collins, Colorado, USA at the Rocky Mountain Masters Games.
Australian Marge Allison holds the W70 record of 36.71 (+0.7), set August 12, 2015 in Lyon, France, at the 2015 World Masters Athletics Championships. Allison also holds the W65 record set four years earlier at the same championships. Canadian Christa Bortignon set the W75 record of 39.89 (+0.0) at a domestic meet in Kamloops, British Columbia on May 18, 2013. American sprinting legend Irene Obera learned hurdles sufficiently to set the W80 record 42.24 (+1.2) on July 20, 2014, at the USATF Masters Championships in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
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